Many components of a video processing system, such as a television encoder or a video digital-to-analog converter, consume a relatively high amount of power while activated. It therefore can be advantageous to detect when a display device has been disconnected so that the video processing system can enter a low power state. Moreover, a user may desire to exchange one display device for another (e.g., swapping between a monitor and a projector device) and therefore it typically is desirable to detect the swapping of display devices so that the display system can reinitialize its display configuration for the new display device. Certain display interface architectures, such as those based on the Digital Video Interface (DVI) specifications, utilize an interface pin dedicated to detecting a connection between a video processing device and a display device. However, other display architectures, such as those based on the video graphics array (VGA) specifications, composite video specifications, component video specifications, and the like, do not have a dedicated pin or line for detecting a connection with a display device. A conventional technique for detecting a connection with a display device without a dedicated detection interface pin includes indiscriminately driving a fixed current at an output line of the display interface of the video processing device under software control or in response to user input, and then measuring the voltage at the output line to determine whether a display device is connected. While this fixed current often is chosen to be output at the last display line of a frame, this resulting fixed pattern remains viewable and therefore corrupts the displayed imagery, which can cause visual artifacts bothersome and distracting to the viewer. Moreover, the software intervention and control needed to implement the detection process typically results in a decrease in overall performance and an increase in power consumed. Accordingly, an improved technique for detecting whether a display device is connected would be advantageous.